UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Mario Alberto VALLEJO, Defendant-Appellant

I.

Vallejo was convicted of illegally importing a firearm ( 18 U.S.C. § 922 (1)) and being a felon in possession of a firearm ( 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1)), and was sentenced to twenty-four months imprisonment and three years supervised release.

On September 15,1992, we reversed Vallejo’s firearm convictions for evidentiary errors, and remanded for retrial. On November 11, 1992, Vallejo was released on bail after serving approximately seventeen months in prison. Instead of retrying Vallejo for the firearms offenses, the government issued a superseding information, charging Vallejo with importing merchandise subject to seizure in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 545 , to which Vallejo pled guilty. On June 7, 1993, the district court sentenced Vallejo to “time served” plus one year of supervised release.

In February 1994, state officers arrested Vallejo for second degree burglary, felony transportation of marijuana, and possession of marijuana for sale. Based on this state arrest, the district court revoked Vallejo’s supervised release and sentenced him to a one year prison term, scheduled to begin in March, 1996, when Vallejo completed his state prison term. The court…